The (Unofficial) Great Battles of History
After Action Reports
From: Fabio Bernardini
Date: 16 Feb 2003
(These battles were played using Fabio's SPQR Variant Rules -- DT)
Battle of Acrillae
The Xth roman Legion proved to be too strong for those poor Syracusan. The 2 cav unit tried a diversion on the right roman flank, just to get stuck between the Roman Cav and a couple of oncoming cohorts. Then the first Legion infantry line stroke and the game was pretty much over. The TQ check die roll resulted in a disaster for the first HI Sicilian line. Then it was Principes turn, thank to a successful trump achieved by Marcellus who didn't fail the subsequent momentums.
At the end of turn 2 I counted:
Syracusan TQ eliminated: 72
Syracusan TQ routed still on map: 5
Roman TQ eliminated: 21
Roman TQ routed still on map: 37
The Syracusan managed to produce some harm thank to their very mobile and sturdy skirmisher units, which took advantage of the by now scattered roman lines.
Small battle, but fun to play and a very quick one.
Battle of Numistro
It was a truly bloody contest with Hannibal managing to score a narrow victory.
The roman deployed in a traditional fashion, with AS Cavalry to the right and Legion Cavalry to the left. Later, the decision no to cover the entire wideness of the map with both row of legion units proved to be fatal for Marcellus.
The Carthaginian counteracted by massing Numidian LC and Lancers to his left, facing the AS Cavalry, and all elephant to the right with all LI behind. Celts and Phalanx were deployed beside the Numidian horde, the rest of MI and HI were committed to the center with the unfeasible task to stand against the fierce manipular onslaught.
Maharbal (to whom Hannibal granted the Elite Initiative Acrtivation), managed to work his way through the 4 AS Cavalry units and achieved the goal of reaching the now unprotected right roman flank.
The subsequent 6 consecutive roman activations allowed Marcellus to move his Army quite close, but not adjacent, to the heterogeneous enemy line. He also managed to put together a sort of refused flank with a couple of cohorts.
Maharbal and Hannibal succeeded in rolling their respective available momentums and produced some serious harm to the now battered V Legion.
Nevertheless, Marcellus did a nice job in rallying every unit in his reach, and the turn ended with a 43 to 12 for the Africans. An ordinary first turn score for most SPQR battle where the Roman is unable to reach the enemy lines due to a consistent distance between the two armies. The second turn, as usual would have been the decisive one.
Things were proceeding pretty straightforward: Hastati and Principes pulverising the opposite center, elephants rampaging all around in their right wing (none of them would survive the battle), Maharbal & Co swirling all over their left wing and building, brick by brick, what would have been a narrow but solid Carthaginian victory.
Until Marcellus, in an attempt to seize his second momentum scored a 9 -- and there another 9!!! DIE ROLL OF DOOM, END of TURN, without giving Hannibal not even a micro chance to budge from his initial position. The match reopened.
The final turn was a continuous desperate hunting for "the routed unit", with no shadow of a line, Legion unist rushing forward to catch all they could in a prolonged mopping up action, several of them got routed in turn. An African phalanx got caught out of its refuge (the top of the hill) and annihilated from the rear.
Nevertheless, Cavalry and Celts MI stroke decisively and the bloodiest GBoH battle I ever played ended with both Armies well over their respective Withdrawal level (the V Legion was almost entirely eliminated), but Hannibal managed to achieve a small edge:
Final Roman RP: 195
Final Carthaginian : 148
Despite the Outcome, the battle is a winnable one for the roman. They field battle is quite narrow and the legion units can cover it all without the "help" of their weak cavalry. With such a different deployment I doubt LC and Lancers could break the line without being soundly beaten.
Many thanks to Dan Fournie for the entertaining scenarios.